Friday, May 4, 2012

ANI-MOVIES, *Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme

After about two other failed attempts at getting his own movie(say what you will, but I actually dug Doctor Mordred), Marvel Animation decided to take the “original Doctor” and make their fourth film through Lionsgate about him. Unlike the previous animated movies though, this one didn’t have any connection to them and was treated as its own story.

Pompous-ass Stephen Strange is one of the leading surgeons in his field, but is only interested in unique cases by wealthy patients. After a mystical vision causes him to crash his car, his hands are crushed, and he can’t perform surgery anymore, Strange uses all his funds up scouring the world looking for a way to restore his hands. When he’s at the end of his rope, a stranger named Wong appears and tells him to see out the enigmatic Ancient One in Tibet.

Once finally in Tibet, Strange joins in with Wong’s crew of sorcerers, which is spearheaded by the agressive Mordu(“Baron Mordu”). Their troops are after the demonic entity Dormammu who was sealed off in another dimension ages ago by the Ancient One. Strange starts his training under them to be a magician, during which he finds his hands are healed. Mordu becomes enraged when he learns that the title of Sorcerer Supreme(their grand poobah), and he strikes a deal with Dormammu to get rid of Strange if he kills the Ancient One for him.

Dormammu is released through the dreams of children in a coma, and destroys the Sanctum Sanctorum which bridges the gap between our world and the demon world. After dying, the Ancient One passes his power on to Strange with his mystical amulet(the Eye Of Agamotto). With his new strength, Strange manages to defeat Mordu, and absorbs all of Dormammu’s magic. Strange then remakes the Sanctum with Wong, and begins his new life as the Sorcerer Supreme.

This made for a decent secret origin for Dr. Strange. I think Marvel chose to take a chance on doing an animated movie of him to try and introduce him to a new generation of fans. With magic being a big thing in Hollywood at the time, Dr. Strange was a good attempt, although it’s hard to say how non-hardcore comic geeks would accept it. The animation is pretty good, exceptionally better than what was used in the previous Iron Man movie. It’s hard to say if this one is a keeper for your video library, but very much worth a rental or borrowing from a friend.